Persistent Beta
The only constant is change.
Eyeball farmers or phishing boats?
Mar 2nd
Despite not having updated in a few days, I’m getting a lot of spam comments on my posts. They’re fairly obviously from non-native English speakers (or people who are nearly illiterate), so they’re easy to spot, and since I have comment moderation turned on, they’re not making it through, but they’re still annoying.
The strangest thing is that Gmail flags most of the notifications as spam, since they contain the comment text with characteristic bad grammar and the associated link to some eyeball farm or phishing site. I glanced into my Spam folder a few days ago, saw one and then went looking for more.
Curious.
Foursquare: Neat idea, not-so-neat execution.
Feb 7th
I think I like Foursquare, but it is possible (even likely) that I like the *idea* of Foursquare better than I like its current reality. I find its UI frustrating, because it’s hard to check in. There are two improvements that would make this easier for me.
- Give me a favorites list of places at which I can check in. Or at least filter the set of items in a location to put the ones at which I have checked in before at the top of the list. Every time I try to check in at Best Buy HQ, I have to search for it. I get that the GPS has trouble in the parking lot, but shouldn’t the app have some kind of history that would make this easier for me?
- Let me sort places by type – if I am in a location with a lot of stuff around, filtering down to just the restaurants or just the stores would make the list easier to read through.
No, I have not ordered an iPad. Yet.
Feb 4th
First, let me say this. Yes, it’s a funny name, but so was Wii. “Would you like to come over to my house and play with my Wii?” Beavis and Butt-Head are terribly entertained to this day, but the rest of us got over it. It’ll pass.
Okay, now on to the heart of the matter. I think the iPad is a really really neat device, and I think I want one. I’m not entirely sold, for three reasons.
Tertius: No Flash support. I would like Flash support, even though I know HTML5 is a better way to do streaming video and the main use of Flash right now is for banner ads that AdBlock and AdThwart can’t filter out. There is some cool Flash stuff out there, like Homestarrunner.com, that I want to be able to experience. This is not a dealbreaker, though.
Secundus: No camera. I know there might be one, but I’ll be surprised if it’s in the first model. I think the camera will be in the second iPad. If I’m wrong, then this objection disappears.
Primus: AT&T. Seriously, Apple? With this much time to learn how inadequate AT&T’s network is, you should know better. The fact that you could get an awesome deal on the pricing only has real value if the network actually ****ing works, and far too ***ing often, it doesn’t. It drops calls all the time, delivers crap for bandwidth and is generally craptacular. And you know it. You sold out the existing userbase to get the new users on board, damn you.
If it turns out that there’s an iPad with Flash support, a camera and access to the Verizon network, then I’m in. Well, that or a really cool D&D app. If Wizards of the Coast actually gets their shit together and releases a competent multi-player app that uses the fabled Game Table and incorporates iPad support, then I’ll probably buy 5 of the damned things.
Dear John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich: thank you.
Jan 16th
Dude was First Lord of the Admiralty, in addition to inventing the sandwich (probably).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Montagu,_4th_Earl_of_Sandwich
Think for a moment what life would be like without the idea of the sandwich. Assume for a moment that nobody else thought of it (then or now).
I’d freaking starve to death.
I don’t think I like Shadowrun any more.
Jan 10th
Back in the day, when Shadowrun first came out, 20 years ago, I bought a bunch of the books. I played some, ran a bit, but never really got much of a chance to get into it. That didn’t stop me from spending money on the books, mind you – I have plenty of game systems that I have bought, read and never played at all, so not playing is clearly no barrier to me – but it did mean that I didn’t get much of a chance to get deeply into SR.
I got busy with other things, and I think I ran out of money at some point in there, at least money for game systems I wasn’t actually playing. I think Magic: the Gathering may have consumed all of my available cash for a while.
But now I am back into Shadowrun, working on a game for Con of the North (coming up in just a couple of weeks – if you are a gamer, in the Twin Cities or thereabouts, and have the weekend of Feb 5-7 free, check it out). And while I still like the setting and the idea, the system has way too much embroidery for me to enjoy it.
Let me be clear: I’m a long-time roleplaying geek. My first RPG purchase ever was the first edition of the AD&D DMG, which puts me after the real pioneers who played the original D&D box but still pretty darn early in RPG history. I’ve bought dozens of game systems over the years, played many of them, GMed more than I have played. I like systems with depth and complexity, but Shadowrun 4th Edition is just… off-putting.
I think the key problem for me is that there are so many fiddly bits that I’m almost certainly sub-optimizing in some way, because I don’t know the system well enough. What’s the most efficient way to distribute build points? Should I be buying skill groups or individual skills? Should I take skillwires and activesofts for some skills? What’s the right balance between buying up attributes and buying up skills?
And how am I going to put together character sheets with all of these options on them in a way that makes sense to players?
Sigh.
Okay, enough complaining. Back to it.
Liveblogging my own podcast creation process.
Jan 5th
There are things that I can do, and things I cannot do. There are also things that I can do and choose not to do.
Case in point: podcasting. I’d like to share my playlist; I like it and I think that some other people might like it as well. But the small-but-noticeable amount of work involved, combined with my laziness, is causing the project to be back-burnered before it even really gets on the flames.
On the other hand, to prove to myself that it is actually some amount of work instead of simple laziness, I’ve actually had to start doing it. So, here we go.
First, I should note that iTunes badly needs (and will not get) a simple method of creating a podcast from a playlist. Wait, let me Google that phrase to see if someone has a solution. Nope. Darn.
So, the method is to use Audacity (yay FOSS!) to open all of the mp3 files so I can make a single mp3 for the podcast itself. This is kind of a pain in the ass, because all of the songs are in different folders. Tip: Don’t use the “Project > Import Audio” menu option, or even the CTRL-I. Instead, in iTunes, right-click the file and choose “Show in Windows Explorer” and then drag-and-drop the file into Audacity. Much easier, less clicking around in dialog boxes.
Okay, now I have the songs imported. Looks like the levels are different. I could figure out how to change levels at this point. Sigh. More googling. Fortunately, not hard.
Copy the louder tracks (well, hello VNV Nation, Insoc and Timo Maas, how lovely to see you here) to a track of their own. Run “Normalize” effect.
Download and install the Lame.enc dll. Google the location of the Lame.enc dll. Fail. Find it myself. Win!
Start saving my podcast file. Realize it’s time for me and Christina to play some games, so the actual podcasting part will need to wait for another day. But the hard part is done, and it turned out to not be so hard.
I can hear the Minnov8 Gang snickering. :)
Running time.
Jan 4th
There’s a remarkable short movie starring Bruce Campbell by that title, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about actually running.
I started running at the tail end of summer, following Christina (my lovely and talented wife) by a few weeks. I found, rather to my surprise, that I like it, largely because it makes me feel more alive and present in my body. This is not surprising to those of you who are into regular exercise, I suppose. I find that my mind wanders, which I suspect is quite normal – the fabled “runner’s high” is, at least for me, a somewhat trancelike state.
To get me started, I used a podcast series created by Robert Ullrey, using the Couch to 5K program. It works really well, at least for the first few weeks. The program uses intervals of running and walking, gradually building up to longer and longer runs as you build up strength. I was surprised to find how quickly my body gained the ability to run for 20 minutes without stopping.
At any rate, the point of this rambling post is to talk about the music I use for my runs. I like music with a really strong beat, fairly fast. I’ve been a fan of techno and trance music for years, and it fits really well for running.
My current set starts with a relatively slow 5 minute walk (3mph), then speeds up to something that I can run 4.5 to 5 mph with. I have a lot of VNV Nation in my running playlist right now – there is a 4-song sequence that’s built for “get your $#% in gear!”
1. Feel Me – Blancmange
2. Song for Dot – Space Raiders
3. Funky Little Demons – Wolfgang Press
4. Able to Love [Original] – Benny Benassi
5. The Farthest Star – VNV Nation
6. Testament – VNV Nation
7. Chrome – VNV Nation
8. Defiant – VNV Nation
9. Somnambulistic – Information Society
10. First Day [Extended Version] – Timo Maas
If I can figure out how to do a podcast, I’ll post it.
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